Smart actuators that can undergo complex motion, harvest energy, and signal transmission have elicited significant research interest due to their cutting-edge applications in soft robots, bionics, flexible electronics and sensors. The elastic modulus of soft actuator is similar to that of soft tissue in biological systems, which makes soft actuator safer and more robust than rigid robots. As one of the important parts of the soft robotics, soft actuators can convert external energy stimuli such as magnetic/electric fields, pH, temperature, solvent, humidity, and light into mechanical energy output, which show great potential in the fields of smart devices and systems. Soft actuators with large deformation and high stability in response to multi-stimuli are highly demanded in biomimetic applications. However, most of the present actuators driven by a single stimulus often exhibit low performance and high energy consumption. In this talk, we will introduce our recent progress on the developing of novel sandwich structural nanocomposites which possesses electrothermal/magnetic coupling actuation. Both the experiment and simulation are conducted to discuss the magnetic field dependent mechanical and electrical properties. It is found that the assembling structures of the magnetic particles and the conductive dopant plays the critical roles in determining the final electrothermal properties. Most importantly, the soft actuators based on the sandwich nanocomposites also exhibit a typical magnetic bionic actuation and the programmable actuation performance of the actuators can be demonstrated by both experiments and finite element simulations. Eventually, the electrothermal/magnetic coupling actuation of the sandwich structural soft nanocomposites exhibit broad potential in sensors, actuator, and intelligent devices.
 

electromagnetic actuator